A Jedi's Journey

Prologue: The Escape.

The stars had always fascinated her. She had always wanted to stow away on a star ship and get out of this miserable situation she was in. Her parents had been having trouble since they found out that her mom had been married once before. Her sister had fallen ill. Very ill. Much too ill to possibly recover from unless a miracle happened. But to little twelve year old Contu Wan-Gi, the worst of all was the fact that the Empire would be coming to take her away. She would be forced to train and serve the Empire. Not an ideal future in her opinion. So she sat, day dreaming, on her last day of freedom, thinking of a way to escape her less-than-perfect future. She was at war with herself.

Accept it! You'll never get out of it!

But you could always.....

What? You could always what?

You could always stow away. You've planned it out before and managed to pull it off! You escaped for two whole days before anyone noticed you were gone! I mean, it's not like you have friends or anyone to miss you! They wouldn't even know you were gone till the Empire came tomorrow!

That is a more satiable future than Imperial slavery. Let's do it!

She thought it all out and slipped out of the window. But before she could even take three steps, a vision sliced through her thoughts.

An escape pod, falling through an unknown atmosphere, crashing into flames at the foot of a mountain, and a man emerging from the rubble. He was average height, with sandy brown hair and striking cool blue eyes. He wore loosely wrapped robes and had a cylindrical device strapped to his hip. A Weapon! He was injured however and before he could take a few steps, he collapsed upon the ground.

Just like that, the vision ended. Contu didn't know who the man was, but she felt that somehow, he would play a big part in her life. She picked up her things, that she hadn't realized that she had dropped, and hurried on to the space port. She had to get to port 5514. That was where the minimal security was. From there she would have to blend with an unassuming family. So when they asked her for her ticket, she could blame it on them. The first part was easy. She made it to the port in no time at all, but finding a family to blend with wasn't easy. Everyone was blonde! Of course they all had to be blonde, because she was brunette! (sarcasm noted)

"Hello there, little miss. Are you lost?" Said a young male voice from behind her.

She whirled around, expecting to see Imperial soldiers but no. A young boy, no more than three years older than her, stood in a pilots uniform with his hands resting by his sides. Not on a blaster.

"Um, yes I am. You see, my parents and I were booked for a flight to Keagonal, on the outer rim? Yes, but it seems that they did not realize that I had not boarded before the ship left port." That was the best excuse she could come up with on such short notice. But the boy seemed to buy it.

"Well, I could take you to Keagonal. It's not too far out of the way from where I am going. You see, I'm going to its next-door-neighbor, Keagon."

She smiled. This was way better than her original plan. "Thank you so much kind sir."

The trip would be long. Very Long. So she would have to try and keep the small talk to a minimum. Lest he should find out about her running away from the Empire.

"So what's your name?" He asked in sincere friendliness.

She returned the smile he wore. "Contu. Contu Jamala Wan-Gi. You?"
[Cön-tü Jâh-mâh-lâh Wán-Jēē]

"Laeta. Laeta Hashka Baegon."
[Lāy-tâh Hüsh-kâh Bāy-gône]

"Well Laeta, how old are you?" She lazily picked up his blaster and began turning it over and over.

He immediately noticed her doing so. "I'm fifteen. Could you put my blaster back?" She did as she was asked. He quickly let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. How old are you?"

"Twelve. Almost thirteen."

"Cool. Where are you from?" He was becoming very curious.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Alderaan. My family is heading to Keagonal for business reasons, before you ask." Although he was becoming fascinated, she was becoming annoyed. But she still remembered her manners. "What about you? Where are you from? And why are you headed for Keagon?"

He suddenly became quiet. "Perhaps we should stop talking or change the subject."

"Fine. Have it your way!" She slunk lower in her seat. This was going to be a long ride. But it wasn't long before the silence became awkward.

"Correllia. I'm from Corellia. That's where I learned how to pilot." She leaned forward to listen to him talk. "I'm headed to Keagon to drop off my spice cargo. That's what I do. I'm a cargo transport. Technically, I'm not supposed to be carrying passengers at all. I made an exception because your family is in Keagonal and it's right next door to my destination." He ran his hand through his hair and Contu noticed it was shaking. "If I were to get boarded on this trip, I would be imprisoned or killed for smuggling."

She kinda felt bad for him. He was risking everything for her....... But why?

"Uh, Laeta? If you know that you could lose everything... Why are you doing it?" It was a legitimate question and she was determined to get an answer.

He shifted in his seat. "Get down." It wasn't a suggestion, Contu could tell that much, it was more of a demand. "Imperial ships." She needed no further explanation. "Ah! Great! I'm getting boarded! You better get ready to spend the rest of your life in prison. Cos that's exactly what's gonna happen to us!"

"Cargo vessel, identify yourself and haul, over."

"This is Cargo 1 5 7 niner, haul is spices headed for Keagon, over."

"Identify your captain and crew, over."

Laeta gave her a big grin. "I forgot! I can have a crew!" He pushed the little button to speak again. "Captain Laeta Baegon and co-pilot trainee, Contu Wan-Gi, over."

"Thank you captain. Have a nice day. Over and out." The answer evidently was satisfactory for the Imperial ships, for they then turned around and left.

Laeta sighed and slumped into his seat. "Well that was easy. We should be landing in Keagonal within twenty minutes now."

"Thank you Laeta, for everything." She leaned over and placed a feather light kiss to cheek.

That caused him to turn bright red. "Uh, you're uh, very uh, welcome!"

Contu couldn't help but laugh at his stuttering. Boys were so weird to her. Complicating things that didn't need complicating, ignoring things desperate to not be ignored, and missing things they could have had all to themselves if they had moved fast enough. Boys were just plain old weird. The landing on Keagonal was uneventful but before Laeta could turn around to leave, it happened. Her vision. An escape pod fell from the sky and crashed into flames at the foot of the mountain! "Laeta, wait!" She made her way over to the pod with her new friend close behind her. The door was kicked open and the man from the vision stepped out. However, unlike in the vision, his injuries were so severe, one couldn't tell what color his hair or eyes were. His entire face was bloodied beyond recognition. "help me get him to a medic!" The two ran over as the man collapsed on the ground.

"Master. I have the Jedi in sight. What is my plan of action?"

"Bring me his lightsaber."

The young Sith apprentice winced as two young children ran up to the Jedi scum. "Master, two kids have approached him now. What should I do about them?"

His mater's heavy mechanical breathing was all that responded over the comlink for a few moments. "No witnesses. Kill them all. Bring me Kenobi's lightsaber."